


They Wanna Grip The Cross

by chemically_yours



Series: F.T.W.W.W. [1]
Category: Marvel (Comics)
Genre: A.I. Tony, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Evil Plans, Evil characters - Freeform, Hydra Steve Rogers, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:54:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24246097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chemically_yours/pseuds/chemically_yours
Summary: Of course, when rescue finally came, it was from a surprising source."Tony?""Kinda."An AU where Evil AI!Tony breaks Hydra!Cap out of jail in order to take over the world together.
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Series: F.T.W.W.W. [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1750093
Kudos: 46





	They Wanna Grip The Cross

**Author's Note:**

> So I came up with the concept for this series waaaaaayyyyy back when the Secret Empire run had just finished and the Ironman comics were vaguely hinting that AI!Tony might be evil. And then I wrote 7 parts and let them sit on my computer for 2 years while Grad School took over my life. Oops. Thank goodness quarantine has me cleaning out my WIP folder.

They Wanna Grip The Cross

Steve knew even as they dragged him off in chains that this would only be a temporary defeat. He knew his purpose. His destiny was still waiting for him and it would only be a matter of time before he was back on the right track. His supporters, the true believers, would never give up. They would come and free their Supreme Leader and then they would cleanse this world of all that was wrong.

Of course, when rescue finally came, it was from a surprising source.

“Tony?”

“Kinda.”

The faceplate flipped up on the armor and there was Tony’s face just as Steve remembered it, all in shades of blue. Steve took a deep breath and reevaluated their surroundings. He had to reassess, figure out what was happening here. The Tony A.I. had fought against him with the others who hadn’t understood. There was no reason for him to change sides now that Steve had lost and the phony Rogers was back. Unless. Unless Tony had somehow found out the truth of things. Maybe he’d found proof that Steve wasn’t what was fake in this world.

The door opened, startling Steve and causing him to step back to face the intruders. A man rolled in a cart covered in food. He parked it by a table behind Tony, bowed to them both, and left without a single word. Tony wandered over and began setting plates on the table. He looked at Steve and gestured to the two bottles in the ice bucket.

“I had champagne brought in for the occasion, if you’d like a glass?”

Steve nodded before he could think better of it and crossed the room to join Tony for the meal. He tried to hide his surprise as Tony poured out two glasses.

“I suppose you’d like an explanation for all of this?”

Steve nodded again, still not trusting himself to speak. He waited for Tony to begin eating and then realized the foolishness of that. He took a careful bite of steak. Poison wouldn’t make sense after all the effort to break him out, so it should be safe enough to eat. It would be best to play along for now and see where this was headed.

“First, you have to understand that I couldn’t stand with you before, because I wasn’t ready. I was still too new to the world and even after I’d figured out what I needed to do, how I needed to live, I had to be cautious. Thanks to Ultron and his ilk, nobody felt comfortable trusting me, no matter how many times I tried to explain I wasn’t a true A.I., and I couldn’t work freely while I was being watched.”

Tony’s champagne sat untouched in front of him, though his gaze drifted to it periodically as he spoke. Steve wondered if he would drink it now if he could. Could an A.I. be an alcoholic? Had that part of Tony’s mind transferred to the A.I. or had Tony managed to avoid passing on that flaw? Steve sipped from his own glass and watched Tony for signs of envy.

“I was careful. See, it wasn’t enough to pretend to be against you. I had to actually fight against you with everything I had to make them trust me so I could keep working in secret. I’m ready now though. Tony will be waking up soon, and he’ll put me back in the box before I have a chance to do what needs to be done. But I have a plan. I gathered up those of your supporters that I could find and orchestrated your escape. We’ll all follow, if you’ll lead.”

Steve squashed down hope, even as it flared up. He’d wanted Tony on his side so badly, before. He’d dreamed of waking him from his coma and showing him the new world, sitting down and explaining how it had come to be. It would have taken time, and Tony was sure to give him a proper fight, but Steve knew that eventually Tony would have seen the truth and come to his side. Things worked so much better when they were together.

“Why?”

Tony carefully refilled Steve’s champagne. He held his own glass for the first time and gazed pensively at the bubbles rising to the surface. Steve watched his electronic eyes through the golden liquid and waited.

“I suppose, because you’re right,” Tony began slowly. “This world is flawed and it needs help. What you were trying to do, it wasn’t perfect, but you were close. The original Tony was too weighed down by limitations to have seen that, to have done what it would take to fix things the way they should be. So I guess also because I want to be better than Me. You can understand that, can’t you?”

Steve pushed away his plate, appetite gone now. He could very much understand that, but it didn’t explain why Tony had come to him. If he had the resources to break Steve out of that prison, then surely he could do whatever he wanted on his own. Unless whatever he needed doing was something only Steve could do. A piece of the puzzle was still missing and it itched in his mind. There was more to it than that, and he’d be damned if he trusted this, this thing sitting across from him without the full story. He reached out and grabbed Tony’s gauntlet at the wrist.

Tony’s smile was warm and inviting, the way it had always been. This wasn’t Tony, but that smile did things to Steve’s stomach nonetheless, and Steve blamed his other self. Damn that man and his weakness for Stark. Steve hadn’t been able to quite dismiss it, the longing and hunger that were instinctual reactions at this point. His gaze was drawn to Tony’s shimmering lips as he spoke.

“I told you before that I remember everything now. I remember how we fought, before, during the first Civil War. And I remember how it felt when I lost you.”

Tony brought his other gauntlet up to cradle Steve’s hand holding his wrist. The metal should have been cold to the touch. It wasn’t. 

“Tony Stark always loved Steve Rogers, too. Even when we fought.”

It was like a punch to the gut. He’d known. He’d always known, but he’d never had it confirmed, so he hadn’t truly known it. He shut his eyes against the swell of emotions. He was stronger than this. It was his other self that was the weak one, not him. This wasn’t even the real Tony. It would be stupid to lose himself to emotions that weren’t even his. He needed to stay focused on his mission.

“I’m not him.”

“I know.”

Tony broke free of his grip and set the glass down on the table with care.

“You’re not that Steve Rogers, and I’m not that Tony Stark, but it doesn’t mean that we can’t learn their lessons. Remembering the pain, remembering what it’s like to live without you, I can’t do that. I’ve had so much time to process all the data, run all the numbers and it all comes out the same every time. We’re better together; you and I. Combined, Captain America and Ironman can make the impossible a reality. We can save this world.”

They were pretty words. Tony had always had a flare for dramatics and romanticism. Steve was even tempted to believe him. Vision, after all, had proven that androids could be just as human as the rest of them. Thoughts of Pym-tron up in his new frozen home kept Steve grounded. This man was not Tony Stark, but he was no less dangerous.

“Then why aren’t you with Captain America right now?”

Tony’s eyes flickered with something Steve couldn’t read. Eyes were supposed to be the windows to the soul. Did computers even have souls?

“He’s not my Captain. You are.”

That was an answer Steve could live with. This Tony wanted to help Steve save the world. This Tony said he loved him. Whether that was true or not, Steve thought he could make this work for now and plan for anything that may come later. He placed the champagne flute back into Tony’s gauntlet then picked up his own glass.

“A toast to us, then, Shellhead.”

He clinked their glasses together.


End file.
